March 26, 2009
Grey Hautaluoma
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-0668
grey.hautaluoma-1@nasa.gov
MEDIA ADVISORY: M09-048
NASA BRINGS ORION SPACECRAFT TO NATIONAL MALL FOR PUBLIC VIEWING
WASHINGTON -- NASA will showcase the next generation of spacecraft
that will return humans to the moon in a day-long public event March
30 on the National Mall in Washington. The full-size mockup of the
Orion crew exploration vehicle will be parked on the Mall between 4th
and 7th Streets, SW, in front of the National Air and Space Museum.
Reporters are invited to attend a briefing by the vehicle at 10 a.m.
EDT.
The spacecraft mockup is on its way from water testing at the Naval
Surface Warfare Center's Carderock Division in Bethesda to open water
testing in the Atlantic off the coast of the Kennedy Space Center in
Florida. The goal of the operation, dubbed the Post-landing Orion
Recovery Test, or PORT, is to determine what kind of motions the
astronaut crew can expect after landing, as well as conditions
outside for the recovery team.
NASA engineers and personnel will be available all day at the National
Mall event to answer questions about the Orion crew module and the
Constellation program.
Orion is targeted to begin carrying humans to the International Space
Station in 2015 and to the moon in 2020. Along with the Ares I and
Ares V rockets and the Altair lunar lander, it is part of the
Constellation Program that is developing the country's next
capability for human exploration of the moon and further destinations
in the solar system.
For more information about the Orion crew capsule, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/orion
For information about the Constellation Program, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/constellation
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